Story and Rules of Wyweria
by Blazinghand
Summary: Some background reading for a D&D campaign setting I'm working on.
1. Genesis

**The Gods, Celes, and The World-Beast**

At the dawn of time, when the world was yet unborn, the Gods existed together as children in the garden of the cosmos. They had no purpose, and knew no history, so they created these things for themselves, as Gods are wont to. In the endless expanse of the cosmos they grew, made love and friendship and hatred and war and philosophy and all the things Man knows today. A timeless epoch passed, for time had no meaning in those days, and then the Gods were children no more.

They were blessed to not be children, for the World-Mother had come, a Beast of endless terror and ferocity, to consume them and give birth to a new generation of worlds. The Gods had been raised and fattened as lambs to be slaughtered and consumed. These Gods were no longer lambs, though- for their times of peace had taught them not only art, but science and architecture, and their times of hatred honed not just their words but their fists. And so when the World-Beast came to consume its livestock, it found them armed, furious, and for the first time united. The Gods set aside their squabbles and fought against the World-Beast.

The battle raged for another timeless epoch, for time had no meaning those days. We know little of what happened in that furious melee, but we know that it was brutal and bloody. Celes died, and as she died she sunk her blade deep into the heart of the World-Beast. The blood of the World-Beast leaked out and became the oceans, and the body of the beast collapsed, died, and became the land. The Gods gathered around the World-Beast, and in their anger cast it down into the Material Realm, a land without Divinity, governed only by Physical Law and that Magic you could manifest yourself. The corpse would never rise again to haunt them.

A grand funeral was held in honor of Celes, and for a few moments longer the Gods put aside their petty disputes. However, even at the funeral the old wounds were raw and chafing, and the fighting broke out again. It was disgusting and bloody and terrible to behold- Celes herself became splattered with the blood of Gods. Pelor, her lover, could bear it no longer- he cast himself out of the heavens, eternally banishing himself and her body from the godly planes. He rebuilt her pyre and lit it high in the sky, and let it burn until it ran down. Every night he goes to gather more wood to light it again, a memorial to the love of his life. Celes always shines down on Earth, except for when Pelor's grief is too great and his tears blot out the sky and bring rain.

 **Life on Earth**

In time, some Gods found their amusement in creating life on the World-Beast. To a God, you see, nothing is a challenge- in their Outer Planes they can reshape matter to their will. Life is tremendously boring. For those who did not make as much a pastime of fighting each other, their only cure to boredom was challenge. And on the Material Plane, where their power was weak and distant, creating life was challenging indeed.

Obad-hai was the great innovator, and with his mighty powers he sprung plants from the earth, poured fungus into the caves, streamed kelp into the oceans and struck mighty trees into the ground. Finding this life fascinating, he created for it a counterpart, an enemy to stem its tide- the oceans filled with fish and whales, the earth with worms and insects, the surface with rodents and dogs and birds and lizards and all manner of life. Obad-hai was never a big-picture man. Every tiny creature fascinated him and filled him with joy and love. It never occurred to him to make monsters, or intelligent life. Nature was all he ever wanted.

The Gods saw Obad-hai's work and grew jealous. They had not the attention to small detail of Obad-hai, so they created great creatures, monsters, and most of all, intelligent life. First were the Elves, Ehlonna's children. She fashioned them in the nature of Gods as she saw them- long-lived, free-willed and intelligent. She sent them to live among Obad-hai's children on the surface, where they thrived. Moradin's try was clumsier but no less effective- Dwarves he fashioned after the Gods as well, but he wanted to represent what he thought the greater values of the Gods to be. They valued closeness and order, and lived beneath the earth in tightly bound family groups.

With the surface and the earth occupied, all that was left was the oceans, and so were fashioned Merfolk by Yuraern- those poor, doomed creatures. Air-breathing water folk, they lived among the dolphins and had no worries. Little did the gods know, in the eons that passed as they brought their creations into existence, sapient life had come to be on its own- Man. How had they escaped the watchful eyes of Ehlonna, Yuraern and Moradin? Well, Obad-Hai had always been a man of detail, and built into his life forms the possibility for variety and self-improvement. In time, one life form changed into many, and nature itself culled the unworthy, until the few species became many. Where a leg of the World-Beast had fallen and left ignored by the Gods, Obad-hai, ever attentive, planted life. There it had grown Orcs and Men, who did battle for many generations. Eventually, the Kingdom of Man was driven to the sea. In their final years, the Men crafted mighty boats and set oar westwards- their seers told them they could find land beyond the sea. They left Kutan and sailed West.

 **The Journey of Man**

Many Men were left behind, of course- they were simply vassals and slaves of the Orcs. And the merging of the Leg into a single political unit under Orcs did not last long. Bereft of an external enemy, the Kingdom of Orcs shuddered apart violently. Claims to the throne, revolutions, separatists, Orc supremacists who wanted to kill all Men- the Orc Council could not hold the continent together against foes such as these. Eventually, the Orcs spread across the sea as well, and the Men of Kutan reclaimed power. To this day, Kutan is a mess of warring cities and states, though a central King of Kutan is recognized by all the nobles.

The Kingdom of Man would not have lasted long at Sea were it not for Yuraern and the Merfolk. The Merfolk found the Men and Yuraern took pity on them- he gave them sails and iron, and blessed them with astronomy and an innate power of great learning. He decreed that these pitiful creatures would be his children as much as the Merfolk, and he would shepherd them all through the eons. The Merfolk took them in to their own island homes, and prepared to make room for their new neighbors. The hearts of Men are ever filled with darkness, however, and they took their Iron and Sails and made horrible war on the Merfolk. The poor creatures knew nothing of War- and Man, having been tempered by constant battle with the Orcs, slaughtered the Yuraern's children relentlessly. Somehow, Yuraern was deaf for many weeks to the prayers of his Merfolk.

Finally hearing the cries of his children, Yuraern bent down to intercede, and cried in horror as not monsters or weather, but his own adopted children slaughtered his created ones. He brought mighty storms and lightning upon Man, shattering many of his boats and slaying his soldiers. Soon he found his attacks halted, though- for another God stood in his way. Man had taken Vecna, the God of Secrets and Deception, into his heart. It was through Vecna that they had hidden the contents of their hearts, and through him they had taken everything from Yuraern- his secrets, his technology, and now his children. Vecna was too strong for him, and he could only look on helplessly as his Merfolk prayed for guidance and heard nothing, as they fled and screamed and forsook their God in their dying breaths. Few made it away alive, and though Yuraern sent mighty storms against it, the Kingdom of Man made it across The Great Sea and settled safely.

With nothing left to protect, Yuraern fell into despair, and The Great Sea churned with his anger and sadness as he cast about for some way of bringing Retribution on Vecna and those hideous Men. Vecna laughed and kept his hand tightly grasped around the hearts of Man. So keen was he on his new worshipers that he did not notice the Secrets among them. He did not notice The Great Sea go calm, and he was blind as St Cuthbert, fueled by the whispered knowledge of Yuraern, who knew humans all too well, grew a congregation, then a church, then a whole religion. St Cuthbert promised Yuraern he would get Retribution, and it was well-delivered. His priests and paladins rose up, and the Kingdom of Man was wracked with civil war and was sundered in two- and the Church of Vecna was shattered with the wholeness of the Kingdom, as secrets die easily in war.

In time, other races made their way out of the mud and stone, and the land between The Worldspine and The Great Sea was populated by all manner of folk. Kobolds and Goblins and Halflings, all small things, small and light enough to lift themselves to civilization, spread throughout the land. War and Politics and Religion destroyed and reformed nations- Humans and more Orcs came across The Great Sea, and even some Elves and Dwarves went east to Kutan. New Gods, Gods of the small creatures, were raised by the power of worship alone, and found their place among the Old Gods- and great tales of all sort came to pass, wars and adventures and magic was wielded that might rival the Gods themselves, but that is a story for another day.


	2. The Ages

**Background - Ages**

There are three general Ages in history - The Age of Legends, The Age of Wars, and The Imperial Age. The Age of Legends refers to the time before human unification, when monsters roamed the land and the world was harsh and savage. The Age of Wars refers to the centuries of civil war and strife leading to the formation of the empire. The Imperial Age refers to any time after the formation of the Empire. In time, the monsters, dragons, and great magic of the Age of Legends fades, but technology advances, and cleverer use of weaker magic takes place.

 **The Age of Legends**

Age of Legends starts at Dark Ages tech, which is what the Gods bestowed upon many of their creatures after creating them. There is ironworking and steel, though at this point distillation-based alcohol, the printing press, and gunpowder had not been invented.

The important part about the Age of Legends is the balance of power. Most people are serfs or peasants, and work for lords or nobility. Entire cities or counties submit dragons and provide tithes to them in return for protection (mostly from other dragons or monsters). Heroes are few but powerful and stories of their prowess have wings that carry them throughout the land. It's a terrifying time to be a peasant because the world is harsh and new, and the bounds between this realm and next are weaker.

The most powerful mages in the land are capable of casting 8th and 9th level spells, and at times the Gods themselves will manifest in visions to the greatest priests of paladins of their orders. The world is raw like unhardened lava, and as dangerous and free-flowing in its youth.

 **The Age of Wars**

So, the Age of Legends gradually comes to a close as adventurers and legendary heroes start to tip the balance of power in favor of civilization (though not necessarily the forces of good- just the forces of this particular kind of Lawful). For whatever reason- and it's not entirely known why, since records from that era were poorly kept- a lot of the more magical and supernatural monsters began to recede. Whether they were going into hiding, were slain, or the magic that allowed them to exist was dying down, they became less and less common. Whereas a peasant in the Age of Legends would typically live to see at least a few monsters in his life- dragons, ghosts, or whatever- in the Age of Wars, perhaps only once every few generations this would happen. Scholars debate on when exactly the Age of Wars began, since the calendar system wasn't properly standardized until the Imperial Age. What's known is that it was over a hundred years.

Whereas before, most conflicts involved the supernatural in some way, either on one or both sides, the Age of Wars saw battles entirely held between humanoids, sometimes even without serious magical support. It was bloody and cruel. Although the Dragonlords and the Vampires and the Legends and other beings that ruled over humans were cruel, they often fought their battles themselves. No peasant could hope to defeat a Dragon, so two Dragons fighting over territory would only muster their most powerful mages and adventurer allies. A Hero going against a Vampire or a Lich would not bring a thousand commoners with him, for what could they do against the supernatural?

The departure of the strong tyrants saw the installation of weaker, petty tyrants who could not win their battles themselves. They came out on horseback clad in armour and send their peasants to die by the thousand for them. The Heroes still turned the tides, but it was a different battle that was fought, and fights took place in courts as much as on the bloodstained fields.

 **The Imperial Age**

With the unification of humanity and the political consolidation of the lands east of the worldspine, north of the riverlands and southeast of the steppes came the Imperial Age.


	3. Law & Chaos

**Law, Chaos**

Law and Chaos aren't about literal law and literal chaos, they're mindsets. Lawful creatures are process-oriented. A Lawful creature like a dwarf would, for example, follow a non-law rule even if it was disadvantageous to him to do so, because that's just how things work. Elves are weird folk and it's not implausible an Elf would associate with an Orc. Also, an Elf wouldn't automatically hate an Orc just because he's an Orc, since as chaotic creatures, Elves are more about exceptions than rules. An Elf might hate an Orc anyways, but it would be for other reasons.

For example, let's take the idea of protests. A Lawful creature living in modern America would either be pro-demonstration or anti-demonstration. As a Lawful creature, he either supports the idea of people being able to protest, or he is against that idea, regardless of application. He would support both people protesting in front of conservative businesses and liberal business because that's how it works, even if he's a liberal and hates it when conservatives picket across the street from his natural food store or his family planning center. Process matters to a Lawful character, more than it does to a neutral or Chaotic character. A Lawful character is either FOR protesting or AGAINST protesting, regardless of who's doing it. A Chaotic character, however, will support or take part in protests he likes, and will say "the city should just force those hooligans out" whenever his enemies protest. For him, the process is not important. He doesn't give a crap about that, it's meaningless to him.

This isn't a value statement about whether Law or Chaos is better or worse. Chaos isn't hypocritical, despite what it may sound like. Chaos would call Law hypocritical for not standing up for its beliefs when its allies are in violation of a rule or concept. Law would call Chaos hypocritical for not standing by the rules, even when they are inconvenient. Each considers the other a fair weather friend or hypocrite.

So, for that reason, even though an Elf or an Orc might be suspicious of each other, they will not as a rule attack on sight or refuse to mingle, even if they're strangers. In a war zone, or if battles have happened recently between them, they may. As Chaotic types, or neutral types with Chaotic tendencies, they'll approach each situation uniquely without relying on some kind of binding rule on how to approach orcs or elves. They learn from experience of course, so for example an Elf might automatically attack an Orc who is in a certain area if Orcs are invading that area- but Chaotic characters are all about exceptions to general rules.


	4. Magic

**Magic**

Psionics are just a particular discipline of magic, lumped in with sorcery. In terms of "fluff", the difference between psionics and sorcery is not meaningful. Sorcerers and classes that use PP are both a subset of "Sorcery". Sorcery involves something in your blood or the core of your being that you exercise with specific gestures, concentration, or phrases, and so includes psionics. Literal class Sorcerers are just a special case of psionics- it's innate magic that lets you do stuff wizards do. Psions are just sorcerers who have a broader, different control over their abilities. They lack the ability to shape their latent magic into the exact same shapes that Wizards can, but they have other strengths. In the world, Psions and sorcerers are both called Sorcerers and what they do is called Sorcery. A learned Wizard who likes to talk about such things might talk about the different kinds of sorcery he has observed, and how one kind of sorcerer (a psion) could have different abilities than several others he has met (another psion with different powers known, or a wilder, or a sorcerer).

So, the three classes of magic are:

1 - Divine Magic. This is the most powerful magic in the general. From time to time a prophet or priest comes, maybe once in a generation, who can cast level 9 spells. This magic is characterized by coming from some other, powerful source. It doesn't come from you, and it doesn't come from your ability to manipulate the laws of magic. It's borrowed power.  
2 - Learned Magic. This is a moderately powerful magic in the Ages. Much magic was lost when the Age of Legends ended, for books burned or were buried and mages died with their secrets unshared. This magic is characterized by coming from a deep understanding of the nature of magic, and an ability to manipulate the latent magic around you. It doesn't come from your body, or from someone else.  
3 - Sorcerous Magic. This magic varies in power throughout the Ages. Many powerful bloodlines were extinguished as the Age of Legends was drawn to a close, but randomly powerful sorcerers can appear. Who knows how powerful any one sorcerer can become? The most powerful sorcerers have no limit to their power. This magic comes from within, either through a quirk of your body, or some other source inherent in your body or lineage, or just plain luck screwing something up in your head or your blood. This magic is part of you, and comes from no one else.

As a general rule, during the Age of Legends, there were spellcasters capable of Level 9 spells of all kinds. During the Age of Wars, the most powerful Learned and Sorcerous mages could cast Level 7 spells, and the most powerful Divine mages could cast Level 9 spells. The most powerful mages in the Imperial Age were just as strong as the Age of Wars, but there were fewer at the top.


End file.
